Forever Is A Long Time
by sockstar
Summary: Carly's boyfriend is worried about her relationship with Freddie. Carly blurts out that he's already got a girlfriend. Sam Puckett! Creddie.. of a sort.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter Name: **The Squeeze Play.

**Notes:** Carly's boyfriend is worried about her relationship with Freddie. Carly blurts out that he's already got a girlfriend. Sam Puckett!

* * *

"So, I was on first base, and I noticed the new pitcher threw slower, and looked back at the bases earlier. On his second pitch, I waited till he was about to throw, and sprinted off towards second, I made it before the catcher even got the ball out of his gloves."

"That's so amazing." Carly sat in a booth in the far corner at the Groovy Smoothie, twirling her hair in her hands, eyes shining, makeup fully applied whilst Freddie rolled his eyes. Carly and Don had only been going out a week, but Freddie was already pissed off at yet another stupid perfect guy waltzing into their lives, causing Carly to fall for him without even trying. It was like the universe was directly punishing by throwing yet another example of his inadequacy in his face.

Don had recently moved to Seattle, along with the rest of his family, transferring into Ridgeway in the process for the remainder of the senior year. He'd been the baseball captain at his old school, and he'd been recruited for the Ridgeway team within days. Fast on the bases, middling hitter, good in the outfield, a leader off the field, he was a certainty to get picked up on a sports scholarship by any team looking for a good utility player they could work with. If he stayed focused and professional, he was a potential MLB player.

Unsurprisingly, he'd caused a stir amongst the female students that Freddie was sick of after a day, let alone the week of constant gushing that was pouring from Carly and Sam about him. It was bad enough that they'd all had far less free time to spend together, but when the girls were locked on a new guy, Freddie couldn't help but count down the minutes till he could get away from it.

So of course the guy went straight for Carly without a seconds hesitation the moment he saw her in the hallway.

'Ooh Mr Bigshot baseball guy, he thought with his stupid blonde hair, stupid perfect California tan, and stupid athletic physique. What's so great about that anyway?'

"Stupid nub."

"Sorry?" Don replied.

Freddie snapped out of his daydream of pounding Don's pretty face with a barrage of baseballs, and struggled to find an excuse, "Um, uh, Mr Howard. He's such a nub."

Carly ceased gazing at Don, and her eyes narrowed at the name of their teacher, "He is SUCH a jerk. He sits there jabbering on about stuff we don't even need to know, and I know he's picking on me and Freddie just because we got Principal Franklin back. I can't fail the class, I just can't."

Carly's doe eyed look of worry hit Freddie, and he reached over to cover her hand with his, "It'll be okay Carly, I'll be there to help you." Neither Carly nor Freddie noticed Don's eyebrow raising, nor recognized the turning of cogs in his brain.

Carly and Freddie were interrupted by a sharp sucking sound, "Looks like I'm empty. Hey Freddie, you mind going up to get us another round?"

"Sure Don. Same as before?"

"Yep, Banana Deluxe Protein Shake."

'So try hard.' Freddie thought as he stood up to go stand in line.

"I wonder what's taking Sam so long. Bring back one for her too!" Carly pondered, then called out to Freddie.

Don waited till Freddie was standing in line, hopefully out of earshot, before he turned to Carly, "So you and Freddie huh?"

"Sorry?"

"You seem really close." His words weren't especially disconcerting, it was more the slight undertone of jealously, and annoyance that caused Carly to dislike where this conversation was heading. She'd heard it before on several occasions, the outcomes were never good for her, and once the end result had cost her a relationship, "Oh yeah. We've been friends for years."

"You sure that's all? Just friends?"

Carly sighed, "Yes Don. He's just a friend."

"I heard you were a couple before?"

Carly looked him in the eye and recited the spiel she'd given more than a few times, "Yes. Freddie and I are just friends. We went out once for a week, but that was like some hero worship thing, Freddie broke up with me when he found out. It never came up again, so we just went back to being friends."

"Hero worship? What'd he do, push you out of the way of a speeding train or something?" Don chuckled.

"Truck actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah. The cops said I would've been broken in half if he hadn't saved me. That's the story."

"He broke up with you..." What an idiot, Don thought as he leaned back in his seat, his mind turning about what Carly had told him.

Carly knew that it was the 'moment of truth'. If the guy stopped with the questions, Carly knew it wouldn't cause any problems. If he asked more, then they might be in trouble.

Freddie started making his way back over to the booth.

Don however, opened his mouth, "You sure? The way he looked at you-"

Carly, struggling to stop the line of questioning, threw out a desperation play to stop another relationship from crashing and burning, "Freddie already has a girlfriend!"

"What?" Don was surprised, he was sure that it would've been brought up already.

"Yes! Freddie's girlfriend is.." Carly hesitated, unsure what name to say. Freddie couldn't help but have heard what she said, and was looking at her in near-shock. But it had been said already. Freddie would go through with it. For her. All it would take was a 'please for me', Carly thought, and he'd do it.

Rebecca Berkowitz? Wendy? Rhona? At that moment, the doorbell jingled, her blonde best friend walked into the shop, sat down in their booth and that was it.

Carly blurted out, "Sam. Freddie is dating Sam!"

Freddie barely managed to place tray of smoothies on the counter without spilling them.

"Sam?" Don asked, eyebrow raised once more.

"Yeah. They've been going out for a while now, it's kinda secret though."

"Oh, I see. I'll keep the secret hon." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey, no-one's looking, why don't you sneak a kiss?" Carly suggested eager to have Freddie and Sam play along.

Sam looked up at Freddie from the booth seat, noticing Freddie's nose and upper lip twitching. "I have to go. I'll see you later. Bye Sam. I got 2 smoothies for you, bye Don." Sam let out a silent sigh, glad to not have to go through with the kiss. Once was enough for her.

He stomped out of the shop, his feet heavy, the door slamming shut behind him.

Carly did not fail to notice the omission of her name, and weakly offered an explanation when Don turned to her with a quizzical look on his face, "Maybe he just didn't want anyone else to know."

Sam sat there with Freddie's smoothie in her mouth. It was obvious to her that Freddie was pissed, hurt that Carly said something so stupid in the heat of the moment. If like all the trio's previous fights, the one not involved would need to sort it out.

Sam was already planning an epic dumping in front of Don, maybe throwing in some mutual cheating, or perhaps some teary heartfelt confession that they both liked each other as friends but not anything more.

Or just throwing a bucket of pudding on his head and screaming "IT'S OVER BENSON," after giving him a few days to chill.

Sam didn't expect just how badly the idea of letting him 'chill' would turn out.

* * *

**AN: **Okay, this is another story in the same vein as "The Twilight of iCarly's Existence," or "All The World's A Stage." If you haven't read them, well, I hope you get the chance. It's not a series, but maybe you'll get a kick out of it.

For anyone who read the first two, I said not every story is going to be funny/comedic? This is one of them. Also, this will include a couple more chapters, probably 3/4 all up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to reviewers:** SorrisoD'Amore, emlick96, DonxLetxGo and Darsnider.

**Warning:** Angst. There maybe a few swears and sexual references, depending on if I cut them or not lol.

**AN: **I've changed this story to Carly/Freddie, because it's evolved a lot more than I intended it to be and is very much Carly/Freddie now. Also, when you have finished reading, if you could vote in the poll I'm going to put up on my home page.

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2 days passed, with Freddie and Carly managing to avoid each other completely at school because of clubs, projects and non-shared classes. What little Freddie had seen of Carly, included Don by her side on every single occasion. One particularly distasteful moment was seeing Carly sneaking out of a supply closet with her skirt ruffled, face flushed, and the top 3 buttons on her blouse undone, and Don looking extremely happy with himself. Ugh. He knew that they were all older, and it wasn't like he'd not done that stuff with girls, he was the only one out of Sam, himself and Carly that wasn't a virgin.

He hadn't planned on it being with Faye Dorfman, Carly's supposedly weird cousin, but when she came down to Seattle on her own to visit for a week during the holidays, it coincided with Carly hosting a party whilst Spencer was in Vancouver with Socko and Mrs Benson was visiting her sister in Iowa.

Freddie got a big surprise when he found out that Faye had become hot since the last time he'd seen her. The braces were gone, her hair flowed to her shoulders instead of being tied up in pig-tails, and she was even hotter after they'd shared a dozen shots of vodka curled up together on a bean-bag in the corner next to the bottle bot. When she'd confessed she wasn't comfortable around the copious amount of strangers the party had brought into the Shay apartment, they went back to Freddie's apartment for some privacy, made out for a while, then Faye asked where his bedroom was, so they could have some _real_ privacy.

Carly didn't exactly like what had happened when she found out the next morning after coming to look for Faye, but after getting over the initial ick factor, she accepted it and moved on after Faye informed her that it was not Freddie's idea, and that he was a perfect gentlemen during it all.

He wasn't inexperienced by any means, and knew that Carly wasn't either. But he still didn't need to see Carly and Don skulking away from the closet like that.

Freddie waited for either of his friends to come up and talk to him, yet neither had come to see him at all. Sam he expected, but Carly? It hurt, that she'd be doing things with Don, and not even bother trying to apologize. Maybe she just didn't care that much, and expected Freddie to play along, or for him to turn up and act like nothing had happened.

The real reason was that it was part of Sam's plan to wait a few days until he cooled down, but it backfired spectacularly. What little Sam saw of Freddie was from afar, during the few congenial moments in his day, so Sam expected Freddie to come back on his own, at which point they could work it out. But instead, all alone and in his mind, abandoned by both friends in support of Carly's week and a half long relationship with Don, Freddie stewed.

Away from Sam, away from Carly, the 2 days didn't include any webshow rehearsals or live casts, he made himself scarce, forlorn and angry with the world.

Angry with Carly for not coming to see him.

"Why is that not a surprise?" Freddie asked himself, as he sit in the back seat of the rusted $500 car he'd bought after getting a job at a local electronics store after school. It had become more than just a car. It was like it was to many, a symbol of freedom, but it had also become a sanctuary. Sure, it was parked in the Bushwell Plaza secure parking lot, the keys were still back on his bedside table, but it was the principle of the thing.

"Probably spending all her time sucking his tiny steroid shrunk dick to bother talking to me." Freddie knew in his mind that he was being way to harsh on the guy, but screw him. To Freddie, he was yet another random guy who looked perfect, but who would turn into a cheater or asshole or jerk or some other unknown problem after a few weeks, and he'd end up hearing all about it until the next loser charmed his way into their lives.

Plus the broken back seat was a good place to hide beer. Freddie emptied the last can he had, throwing it on the floor along with the first two. He knew he didn't even need to sit down here, Mrs. Benson was out at work for the rest of the night, but he didn't care.

"This weak chiz anyway." Freddie thought, not near drunk, not even buzzed. Just.. empty.

Freddie exited the car, slammed the door on it's hinges, just like the guy who sold it to him said to, threw the empty can into a dark staircase and made his way up to the apartment via the elevator. He turned the corner, only to run into Don and Carly. "Great," he muttered under his breath. Just what he needed, to see Don's hand on her ass and his tongue in her mouth.

The pair sprung apart quick as a flash at the sound of his grumbling.

Don tried a nonchalant greeting, "Uh-hey Freddie.. haven't seen you around much."

"Go to hell." His words were harsh and bitter, and Carly's face fell.

"Dude what's your problem? Man, if this is about Carly telling me about you and Sam, we're sorry."

"Whatever." He ignored Don asking what his problem was, opened his door up and the apartment door followed the house door in being slammed shut, leaving Don standing in the hallway bewildered, and Carly biting her lip with concern. This wasn't how Sam said Freddie would act.

Did they not know Freddie properly any more?

5 minutes later Freddie heard a knock on the door.

"Go away. I'm watching TV. Not interested. No habla ingles." He yelled out from the couch.

"Freddie open the door. This has gone on long enough." Carly's harsh insistent tone burrowed it's way inside his head, and he stood up and opened the door. Carly pushed past him and stood inside the apartment.

"Just invite yourself in, no problem."

"What the hell is going on Freddie?"

"What do you care anyway?"

"I care that my best friend hasn't talked to me in 2 days."

"I'm not your best friend, so don't give me that, Sam is your best friend. Come on, try and deny it."

Moments passed as Carly tried to gather her courage, but the pause proved the point.

"Thought so."

"Look, second best friend then alright?"

"No, not alright. The word best indicates highest, the most, the top. I can't be your 'second best' friend. It's all or nothing. I'm just a friend. You said so yourself."

"When?" Carly asked tentatively.

"After that stupid jock went on about his oh so special ability to run 90 feet before the pitcher can throw the ball 60 feet to the catcher, who then throws the ball 127 to second base. Big deal. I heard it all."

"Why do you have a problem with him? What's with that display back in the hallway?"

"You still haven't figured it out?"

"No.." Carly offered meekly.

"Here's a hint. The person I've got a problem with is standing in the room right now."

"Me?"

"OF COURSE YOU." Carly jumped at his shout, taking a step away from the couch. Freddie thought for a moment, maybe those 3 beers were stronger than he thought.

"Why?"

"Why she asks," Freddie laughed bitterly, and sat down on the couch, leaving Carly bewildered in the middle of the room, "If you don't know I"m certainly not going to tell you." Emulating perfectly the phrase and tone that a number of women on a number of occasions had used on him whilst they were mad or hurt or angry at something he'd done.

"Come on Freddie, this isn't funny. I know you're really mad, but I can't do anything about it without you telling me."

"Fine. What on earth gives you the right to go around telling people I'm going out with Sam?"

"It.. I was, I guess I wasn't thinking-"

"You're damn right you weren't thinking," Freddie cut Carly off strongly, "You never think things through with me. I'm sick of it. You go around treating me like your little puppet, ever since I fixed Jake's voice for the show. Now that I think about it, you were doing it even before we started iCarly. That first day you needed me to record the auditions that ended up starting iCarly you did it then too. All it took was a 'Please, for me,' and I was okay with that."

"Freddie, I'm really sorry, just please let me explain."

"I'm not done yet. I've had a few days to think about this. You know why I did all that?"

"Because you're a good friend?" Carly's eyes shed a few tears, Freddie had never been this angry with her before. He'd never been this angry at anyone, and the thought that he had become so towards her scared her immensely.

Now Freddie simply shook his head and replied calmly, "No. Because I was in love with you."

"Was?" Every other time Freddie had mentioned her and love, it was in a present tense. 'I love you Carly, love you.' 'I love her.' 'I'm in love with Carly.' 'Because I love her.' Carly recalled.

"Sure. Was. Maybe. Not so much at least. I don't know. But I'm sick and tired of being the punch line to a million jokes."

"You don't mean that Freddie. You aren't a joke. I don't think that either, neither does Sam."

"Stop telling me what to think! You know I am. If god forbid I stand too close to you if I'm on camera on the show, you tell me to move over. I put in the ability to caption our recorded past shows a few months ago, and checked out what our viewers had done. You know, they'd captioned every show, and a dozen different languages. One guy even did them all in Afrikaans. Amazing isn't it.. So I ran a search. You've said that to me _thirty seven_ times. Straight from your mouth."

"Freddie, please please stop talking like this, you're scaring me. We can talk about this, maybe we need Sam here too."

"Sam? I'm used to her lack of attention. I doubt she'll think about me when I'm gone anyway. She'll have her best friend back. I'll be out of her hair, and she'll be happy. Just like when she made me realize you didn't care about me, you didn't love me, you just loved that I'd saved your life. You know how hard it was to break up with you, after I had the only thing I've ever truly _needed_ in my life so far? It's the hardest thing I've _ever_ done."

"I'm so so sorry about that, I just..." Carly stopped, not wanting to blurt out that she wasn't thinking again, "You know I didn't meant to hurt you."

"Yeah well, you did. I waited for you. For so long. I kept hoping. I'd done everything I could think of to show you that I loved you. I didn't save your life because I wanted you to love me, but I would've gladly died that day to save you."

"I know you would've, and you know I can't ever repay you for that. I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for you."

"It's not enough Carly. I was in love with you and I _still_ broke up with you because I knew in my heart it wasn't real. So I waited. I waited for you to decide to talk about it. To find out for sure. But I never did. I still don't. Then one day I found out from Jonah that you were going out with some guy I'd never met, and that was it."

"What was it?"

"That was the day you broke my heart. It's never even crossed your mind that I might still be waiting for you has it? It's not like I had other girlfriends."

"What about Sabrina?"

"Sabrina was just a friend. That's all we ever were. She has a boyfriend. God, I told you this. You don't even remember do you?"

Carly merely shook her head, "Freddie, I know I can't say this enough, but I'm sorry for everything."

"I've had enough of it. You never think about me. You might think about how something affects Sam, but you never do it for me. Now, you've gone and declared I'm in love with Sam, that's way too far and I'm over it. I'm sick of being second fiddle to guys you barely know, just because you've been going out with them for 2 weeks."

"You aren't second fiddle!" Carly cried out, exasperated at how Freddie was reducing how important their friendship was.

"Yes I am! You're too ashamed to tell the truth, so you go and invent this crazy story about me being in love with Sam. How about I make it easy for you. I'm done with you Carly Shay. You never have to worry about what Don, or the boyfriend you have next month, or the month after that, thinks about me ever again. I'll leave you and him alone for good."

"You don't mean that, I know you don't! What about school, what about the show?"

"So all you care about is the show? Ha." Freddie snorted. Carly's face fell again, distraught at having poorly chosen her words yet again. She was losing her grip on composure, as years worth of locked up resentment, self-loathing, disappointment and heartache came crashing down on them both.

"Freddie, you said you weren't in love with me any more.. you said it's been happening for a while. Does that mean that you, or even a part of might still-"

"Don't. Carly. Just don't. I know what you're thinking." Freddie said, barely audible over the background noise from the streets below.

"You do?"

"I know you pretty well by now. I know that you're turning over the idea that maybe you can't let me leave. That you need me. That you want me to stay."

"Of course I don't want you to leave."

"But I know what you're thinking about doing. I know how desperate you can get. I've always been there for you, and now I'm leaving, you'd do almost anything to keep me. You could convince yourself just long enough, to do something stupid, that keeps me right alongside you."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you're thinking about doing this." Freddie quickly stood up from the couch and closed the distance to Carly with 2 short steps. In a quick motion he'd pulled her by the waist towards him with one arm, and held her head with the other. He leaned over and kissed Carly deeply. She protested for only a moment, before closing her own arms around his neck. Their lips and tongues moved, twisting, turning, pecking, nibbling and sucking. In the heat of the moment, in there here and now, all Carly wanted was Freddie, and for Freddie to stay with her, and she _wanted_ him.

She wanted to taste the remnants of the beer he'd been drinking. To feel his anger shake her world upside down. For him to know just how sorry she was, and how she'd treat him better. She wanted for Freddie to learn the contours of her body with his hands and mouth, and for her hands to know his body in return.

In that moment in time they were sharing with only themselves, Carly wanted to give Freddie _everything_ she could offer him in exchange for his continued presence in her life.

"I want you to stay. Take me to the bedroom Freddie." Carly huskily whispered into his ears, as she started on the top buttons of his shirt.

Freddie closed his eyes, still immensely tempted to go through with her request despite knowing that he'd regret giving in, at some future space and time. So he gathered his courage, stopped, disentangled himself from Carly and withdrew from the girl he'd wanted for most of his life.

Her eyes fluttered open, her mouth open in a smile, before she realized just what she'd done when she saw Freddie's stony face staring back at her. Her hand flew to her mouth, and she knew that Freddie knew as well and had just proven to her, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how despicably she had used, abused and manipulated him.

"That's what. You were convincing yourself to do whatever it took to keep me. That's why I can't be your friend any longer. I know what we would have done if I didn't stop. It wouldn't have solved a thing."

Carly stood for a moment to think, only for Freddie to gently push her towards the door, "Please leave. You aren't bad person Carly, I wouldn't have fallen for you if you were. You aren't a bad friend either, but that friendship is toxic, and I just can't do it any longer. I'm not 14 any more. I can't see you as anything more than the girl I loved who never loved me back, and I can't keep being the guy who'll do anything for you even though I'll never get what I really need from you. It's better this way. We can both move on and you don't have to worry about hurting me any longer."

"Freddie, don't do this. I'm begging you. Please, for me, for us? I need you I really do, please don't do this. I don't care about Don, not if I lose you." Carly's voice cracked, her lips quivered, and Freddie turned his back to her so he could remain stoic in appearance if not emotionally.

They stood there for a minute, Carly not wanting to go, Freddie not wanting her to stay. Tomorrow morning he'd have a new 'hardest thing I've ever done_' _if he ever wrote up an ordered list. The tension built, neither unsure just where they stood, but it was Freddie who broke first. If Carly wouldn't leave, he'd have to leave, and cause Carly to want to avoid him until they could start getting each other out of their systems.

"You don't want to leave? Fine. Go have fun with Don, tell him he doesn't have to worry about the 'just a friend' you wanted to do god knows what with just to keep me under your thumb, because I'm finished with our friendship. It's not worth my pain, and your embarrassment. I'm leaving. Just for your information, I'm not going to tell Don, so don't worry. I'm not that big of an asshole." Freddie stormed out, passing Lewbert, who had come up to investigate a noise complaint. Even he could tell from the narrowed eyes, the flared nostrils, the sharp, heaving breathing, and recognized the murderous mood etched on the teen's face. He simply stood aside and let Freddie pass.

Carly sat for a moment, unable to withstand this final verbal assault, muttered weakly to herself that she hadn't slept with anyone, shut the Benson's apartment door, then fled back to cry herself to sleep in her bedroom. She didn't even notice the doorman standing in the hallway looking shocked at what he'd just heard screamed through the door.

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**AN: **I hope you like it. Please R&R and vote in the poll! There will be 1, possibly 2 chapters left of undetermined size. Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to reviewers: **RemDiamond, Poywhere, LanternFan, StoryTeller125, Cobalt45, Fanfic-Reader-88, anzgirl123, iHeartCreddie, SorrisoD'Amore, Lionheart316, Darsnider, DontxLetxGo, Carl Rahl and themarchgirl.

Beta read by themarchgirl.

**AN: **I changed the name of the story. I hated the original one lol. It just came from a couple words you'll see repeated a couple times in this chapter.

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"That's the whole story." Carly was in tears as she recalled the entire story to Don. It was mid-morning on the day after Freddie had quit their friendship, and it didn't seem to her like the tears would ever end.

Don, took it well, outwardly at least. He was internally furious, yet the broken, shattered young girl sitting on her couch in front of him killed any kind of desire to scream or yell.

He stood up, and talked in a neutral tone calculated to not make a bad situation worse, "Carly... I could accept Freddie kissing you. I could maybe chalk up you kissing him back to the a heat of the moment thing. What I can't accept is the lies. He's your best friend."

"No, Sam is my best friend, Freddie said so himself." Carly sobbed her head in her hands.

"You're his best friend though. You should have just told me about how good a friend he was. But you lied. You pulled Freddie and Sam into your lies, you lied to me and you did it with a smile."

"I know I did and I'm so sorry."

"It doesn't matter. We haven't been together long enough for it to matter. I'm done. Goodbye Carly. I hope you work everything out with you and Freddie." With that, Don turned and started walking towards the apartment door.

Carly jumped up, running over to grab him by the arm, "Wait, Don, please, stop, please don't leave me. I'm sorry about everything. I can change."

"I hope you do. But I'm not the one you should be changing for. He lives in the apartment across the hallway." Don stepped out into the hallway, and out of Carly's life for good.

Carly stared at the door opposite, wishing she could take back everything. Unfortunately, there was no pint-sized angel named Mitch to rescue her this time.

* * *

"Come on Gibby!" Sam shouted, they were already 3 minutes late on their scheduled air time. It didn't matter as much since it was a web show, but Carly was a stickler for keeping on time, no matter what.

What she hadn't figured on was just how much Freddie helped keep their show running. The ideas for the show were weak, and took longer to think up. Somehow, despite Sam vetoing nearly every single idea Freddie had ever had, his ideas rumbled around inside the girls brains, the ideas bouncing off their existing ideas, combining, heading off on tangents, and then finally coming out of their mouths. And they needed Freddie to figure out what they needed to do to make it happen on the show itself.

They had nothing new. No new sketches, new ideas, new parodies. Just rehashed versions of stuff they'd stopped doing, in some cases years ago. Yet every idea they came up with reminded Carly of Freddie.

The Englishman Who Was A Terrible Father To His Two Children Named Fuffley And Peeta.

With no Peeta.

They didn't have to reject Freddie's idea for another Tech Time With Freddie. Because there was no Freddie to make the suggestion.

In the end, they'd settled for a Wake Up Spencer clip. Again. Without Freddie. A Random Dancing at the end. Sam pressing the remote that Freddie hooked up to their system. They roped in Spencer for a Hey, What Am I Sitting On?, and a pre-recorded Messin' with Lewbert in the middle. The rehearsal didn't go smoothly either. Gibby was unfamiliar with most of the equipment. Sam kept turning up late as usual and Carly became frustrated at both of them, and it caused barely tolerably friction.

And it showed during the show. Their timing was off, on several occasions they stood around doing nothing, waiting for Gibby to start the next segment. The usual bounce in their steps was lacking, leading to flat delivery and a wave of messages along the lines of 'man the show sucks tonight' in the chat rooms of the live stream. It came to a head when Gibby accidentally hit the random dancing button, when Carly was bringing in the chair for the What Am I Sitting On segment, after Sam had announced they were going to show the Wake Up Spencer clip.

When "RANDOM DANCING" blasted across the room, Carly snapped..

"God Fre.. I mean, Gibby, is it that hard to play one clip?" Carly yelled over the music.

Sam and Gibby were shocked at her outburst, and neither missed that she'd started to say Freddie before quickly correcting herself. Gibby stood there waiting for Carly to stop so he could point out that they were still rolling, which he tried to point out, only to shy away once Sam started talking.

"Carls, he's just trying his best."

"Well his best isn't good enough. And you, you couldn't have picked a worse week to show up late to everything!"

"Hey, I didn't have to do this you know." Gibby called out, as he fiddled with the laptop, mercifully shutting down the music, lights.

The end of the blaring music put an end to whatever anger she was feeling. Carly apologized, only for her demeanour to become self-deprecating and bitter. "I'm sorry Gibby. I'm saying that a lot lately. Some friend I am huh? Maybe you should stop seeing me too." Carly's eyes glistened, the camera catching sparkles reflected from the studio lights.

Gibby glanced at Sam, who decided to try and comfort her best friend with a hug, "Hey cupcake, it's alright, really, don't worry about it. We'll all do better next time."

"I just.. I can't do this without Freddie. It's not the same." Carly pulled out of Sam's hug, and fled across to the hallway, holding back her tears. "Don't follow me."

Sam stopped in her tracks, unsure if she should ignore the command, and now it was her turn to glance at Gibby. He was fiddling with the computer, having only had a series of written instructions to go on, none of which talked about shutting down the show early.

To the viewers, it was as if she was looking straight down the camera attached to Freddie's tech cart.

All he could do was shrug his shoulders, punch a couple buttons and say "We're out."

"I'm not sure I can keep doing this."

Sam walked over and kissed him on the cheek, "I know Gib, I know."

"Yeah, well, Freddie's avoiding you. But he'd still my friend, and it sucks that I can't talk about my girlfriend, or Carly, around him, without it being awkward. Now I've just reminded Carly of Freddie, and it's hurting her."

"I'll talk to Carly. Maybe we should just end it, figure out some way to prerecord a final show or something."

Gibby nodded solemnly, "Are you going to go after her?"

"Let's just pack up. She'll just be in her room anyway."

* * *

Carly and Sam were sitting at a cafeteria table, looking across the room. They were watching Freddie, sitting with a group of guys, Duke, some of his wrestling buddies, and a few of their girlfriends. "See. He's happy." As if to hammer home the point, Freddie cracked a joke and cracked the table up, their laughter echoing across the room.

"Sure, on the outside maybe." Sam added, trying not to be sarcastic but still coming off like that in her own mind.

"Come on, he's got like a whole table of friends. He doesn't need us anymore."

"Don't say that. He'll come back."

"Sam, he's not gonna come back. If he was, he'd have done it by now. It's been 2 weeks. He hasn't said a word to me. He just walks past me with this vacant stare."

"He's still angry. What you.. we-"

"It wasn't we Sam. It was me. I've been using him, taking advantage of him ever since I first met him. And it got worse and worse until he snapped." Carly stabbed her fork into a particularly gristly lump of pork, before blanching at the sight of it. She wasn't hungry anyway.

"You can't blame yourself for that."

"Of course I can. The only time he ever had the chance to take advantage of me, he refused, because of you and that stupid bacon theory. Years later, he has the chance again because I fucking wanted to sleep with him! I was whoring myself out to keep his friendship! I'm sick Sam."

"At least he's still a good guy after all that.. not many guys here would've turned you down. He's not a creep."

"No shit."

"I'm sorry hon."

"You know I'm sorry for dragging you into this as well. I didn't want to lose Don and-"

"You made a bad choice. Welcome to the club. You just made a really bad one. Like, monumentally bad. Bigger than the time I.." Sam trailed off, hearing the first signs of impending waterworks.

"And we've lost Freddie. He's going to off to some fancy tech college, fall in love, stay with one girl the whole time and marry her the year he gets out. She'll be smart, funny, cute, and won't try to manipulate him like I did. He'll fall head over heels the first time she giggles at one of his techy jokes, and he'll forget about me forever." Sam tried talking to Freddie a few times, only to get mumbled, barely interested responses. Sam didn't want to cause him any grief, plus she needed to be with her best friend. There was no need to push the issue again.

"Forever is a long time, Carly."

* * *

Carly took a glance back as she left the Cafeteria, seeing Freddie canoodling with one of the unattached female friends, and the sight would've been nauseating if she eaten the entire lunch.

Sam waited though, until he'd finished his lunch, said goodbye to his new friends and made his way to whatever his next class would be. Sam knew the route he'd be taking, and she ran ahead.

Freddie was swinging along happily, wonder about his next class, when a door opened with a flash to his left, and he was being dragged inside the room. The door shut, completely dark, and he fumbled around waiting for his eyes to adjust. In the end, a single red globe flickered on, barely enough light to see more than a foot in front of his face.

He was in a disused photography darkroom. Empty bottles of ink and developing fluid covered the dust filled shelves, and stacks of ancient equipment filled every part of the room that wasn't in the corner by the door.

"What the- Sam. What are you doing?" Sam quickly shoved him forward into a waiting chair, as she took up position in front of the door, locking it just to make sure.

"You saw the last iCarly right dork?" She turned to the side, and flicked a switch. A bright white lamp had been aimed right at his face. He simultaneously yelled out Sam's name and a curse, and shielded his eyes from the intense light.

Sam pointed the light away from his face, the pain in his eyes faded, and he answered the question.

"Yeah." His shoulders slumped, his previous jovial disposition turned into guilt at abandoning his friends.

"So you saw what happened?"

"Yes. I.. I'm sorry. It's just so hard being in the same room with her."

"So you still love her?"

"I never stopped." Freddie looked down at his shoes. Sam sighed, saddened that he was still so devoted to Carly, and still hurting so badly from having to leave her for his own good.

"You have to come back. I can't make Gibby do that again. It's not fair on him."

"I know he's your boyfriend and all, but it's not my problem." Freddie tried to prod his way past Sam

"Carly wants to end the show." Sam turned the lamp right back into his face, causing his arms to shoot up in front of his head again.

"What? Why?"

"Why do you think dope?"

"Carly doesn't want to do it if it's not perfect?"

Sam walked over and slapped him across the head, "No stupid, it's because YOU aren't there. It's not iCarly, the webshow we created. Without you. You named it Freddie. You're the guy who kept it running."

"Why are you laying the guilt on me?"

"I'm not. I'm just asking you to think about coming back for one last time. I don't think Carly would even want to do a final show without you. Just think about it 'kay?"

Freddie rubbed his chin, thinking about her proposal, and decided to do more than think about it, "I'll do it. One last time. For Carly."

"You really are crazy about her aren't you."

"I really hope it didn't take you this long to figure it out." Freddie sassed back.

Sam didn't laugh, instead looking at him with genuine affection "Nope. It just amazes me how often you prove it to me."

"Sam.. I'm sorry I had to leave you-"

"Pfft. I hate you anyway." Sam laughed, and Freddie cracked a smile.

"Hate you too." Sam nodded her head, unlocked the door, and walked out. Freddie followed shortly after, but by the time he had, Sam was gone.

* * *

For the 2 weeks they spent arranging and planning it was almost like old times. Sam made jibes at Freddie, who complained to Carly, who admonished Sam and the wicked glint in her eyes. Carly and Freddie would lock eyes, and then look down and away from each other, both aware of what they'd put the other through.

The final iCarly ever was three times longer than it had ever been. As usual, it included Sam, Spencer, Carly, Gibby and Freddie, and as many guests as they could fit in. Even Mrs. Benson let her hair down and stopped acting crazily neurotic. The final segment was a crazy mass RANDOM DANCING, and with the B cam in operation, with Carly, Sam and Freddie standing together, the emotion and elation at having so many friends holding back the sad feelings from ending the show, Freddie cut the feed.

Sam had rigged her remote to start slow dance once the feed was cut, and everyone thought it was part of the post-show party that had been arranged. All the guests paired up together, Spencer with Sam, Gibby with Shelby, and they all left Carly and Freddie standing in the middle of the room together. Funnily enough, the Sam and Carly look-alikes they once used to sneak into an MMA fight ended up dancing together, whilst the look-alike Freddie danced with Wendy.

"So um.. uh Carly, would you care to dance?" Freddie asked.

"Absolutely." Carly smiled, and they placed their hands into positions required for the slow dance.

As they swayed to the music, Freddie made the mistake of looking straight into Carly's eyes, and his resistance crumbled, "Carly.. I'm really sorry for these last few weeks. I've over-reacted. Can we go b-"

Carly pulled herself closer to Freddie, to let her whisper into his ear, "Stop it Freddie. Don't. Just don't. You've come too far for us to go back to the way it was before. You were right about everything." Carly then placed her head on his shoulders, trying to hide the handful of tears that had escaped her eyes.

Freddie shut his eyes as well, gathering his composure to help himself get through the night, "Sorry."

"Don't be." Regret flashed in her mind, that she'd ignored his warning signs, became complacent of his friendship, and his love. Freddie regretted putting Carly first in every facet of his life, not telling her his true feelings, even if they might have hurt her at the time, completely without regard for his own emotional well being. They both thought if they'd acted quicker, they could have avoided this completely, and with the benefit of hindsight they would probably be right.

Instead, they were resigned to the idea that the future wouldn't include each other.

"It's hard not to when I miss you so much."

"We'll have fun tonight, remember the good times, then you have to go back to your new friends, your new life. You need to forget about me, forever." They continued to sway to the soft music in silence, until the song started to fade out.

"Forever is a long time, Carly."

* * *

**AN: **So, chapter 3 of what will probably end up being 5.


	4. Chapter 4

**Forever Is A Long Time – Chapter 4**

Thanks to reviewers: **Snapplelinz **for her triple review, **Miyavilurver, LaternFan, purpleheart10, RemDiamond, SorrisoD'amore, Fanfic-Reader-88, Poywhere, pink-strawberry-lemonade, Carl Rahl, Darsnider and themarchgirl. **Lastly I would like to thank **Cosmos**, from the Creddie Forum, who requested that I update this story. Cosmos did that in a review for You're Afraid Of Thunder, the Creddie follow up story to my Spam story You're Afraid Of Bigfoot. So if you want some sexy Creddie tent action, go check it out :)

* * *

"So, you're in love with him. Couldn't you have figured that out like eight years ago? You'd be married by now." Sam said as she flopped down on the couch. Sitting beside Carly in the Shay's apartment, they were watching an episode of Girly Cow. Dinner was long past. Spencer had retired to his bedroom already.

Only the steady glow of the TV was illuminating the room.

Not that Carly was paying much attention to it. Her face was downcast, head bowed and deep in thought.

"Shut up Sam. I not _in love_ with him. We barely speak. Ever since we finished iCarly six months ago he's like a ghost. I see him out of the corner of my eye but when I turn to look he's gone. I think he hates me.. or resents me for what happened. For all the shit I put him through. I'm probably just trying to justify doing whatever it takes to get him back like the slut I was last time."

Sam shook her head, "You aren't a slut. You're still a virgin!"

Carly head dropped, and she covered her face in her hands, "Maybe I'm a whore then. A little whore who'd give herself away whenever she didn't get what she want. I bet that's what people say. There goes slutty Shay, I heard she got a C in her last test so then had a private meeting with Mr. Davis and got it changed to an A." Carly was spilling out venemous self-loathing, and Sam had heard enough.

The anger in Sam's voice rose, "Don't ever speak about yourself that way. No-one talks about you like that, I promise. And if they did, they'd regret it. That's not who you are, that's not the girl who has been my best from since before I can barely remember, that's not the Carly that Freddie fell for and that's not the Carly who entertained millions of people online. You are not her, that Carly doesn't exist, so don't for a second belive that! Enough with the self-pity Carly it's complete bullshit so snap out of it!"

Carly sighed, "It doesn't matter anyway. The only people I care about at school are you and Freddie, you're my best friend so you have to accept me, and Freddie hates me and now he's got a billion better girls than me all lined up to be the next girl he falls in love with."

Sam rolled her eyes, "He's a dork, I don't know how anyone could be in love with him... and Freddie doesn't hate you."

Carly narrowed her eyes, "Are you blind? He's smart and sweet and sensitive. He's funny in weird geeky way, you know.. cukey. He's _hot. _He's spent more time in the gym with Gibby than half the football team because of the rehab, which he needed to do because he sacrificed himself to save me. He was in love with me for about five years so he can commit, and that damn smirk and eyebrow thing. Do you know how many girls I see giggling and twirling their hair when he's flirting with them and does it? That's a pretty good start for reasons why someone could fall in love with Fredward Benson."

"I still don't get it."

"Yeah, because Gibby makes so much more sense." Carly intoned sarcastically.

"Don't be dissing my man. So what if he still enjoys the occasional topless dance, he's got the moves. He likes ham just as much as Mama does, and the Gibbster is good in the sack. " The perfect couple, a pair of people who both occasionally referred to each other in the third person, Carly thought to herself.

"TMI." Carly stated flatly. The first handful of times Carly had been informed by Sam on their nocturnal activities was enough. Sam forced her to listen as punishment for all the time Carly had spent on girltalk about the guys she was going out with, or crushing on, or interested in or who might ask some other girl out. Plus Sam didn't want to risk another 'secret keeping' incident.

"Sorry."

"S'okay."

Carly sighed, "I'm going to bed," she stood up took one step away only for Sam to grab her wrist. The blonde stood up and pulled Carly into a long hug.

"Whatever it is, love or not love, or just wanting him back, as a friend or more, I'm gonna be here for you, I promise."

Carly sniffled then said, "Thanks Sam."

"Do you want me to go up with you tonight?"

"No.. I just want to be alone. Sorry."

"Okay Cupcake." Sam didn't take offence, "Love you." She said, holding Carly until Carly pulled away and tramped up the stairs.

* * *

Mr. Henning stood up in front of the class, a bowl in his hand. He'd spent the last five minutes writing down the name of everyone in the class on his special recycled paper. He then cut the names out them and stuck them in the bowl.

He had just annouced a group project. Pairs of two, working on one of a potential topics to be chosen by the pair. Luckily for the class, Principal Franklin had banned the use of the Root and Berry Retreat as a punishment, and the Retreat was now a mandatory field trip for one of the age groups below them.

"Gibby, please come up to the bowl to select the partners. Keep your shirt on."

Gibby nodded, and made his way up to the desk the teacher was sitting at.

He read out name after name.

"Jonah, Wendy."

"Missy, Nate."

"Rebecca, Doug."

"The Gibmeister and... Sam my girl." Gibby smiled and nodded his head before continuing.

"Shawn, Brad."

"Bobby, Kathy."

"Jake, Malika"

"Wesley, Taryn."

"Rico, Benjy."

Both Freddie and Carly groaned at the same time. There were only two names left in the bowl.

Gibby picked up the last two and confirmed it.

"Well there you have it kids. Pair off and choose what you want to do." Mr. Henning sat back in his chair, opened his desk and pulled out a large pineapple. He skinned, cut and ate the pineapple at his desk.

Two minutes later everyone else had paired up, sitting beside their partner at one of their desks or the lab benches around the outside of the room. Freddie was closer to the front but he could feel Carly's glare on the back of his head.

When he noticed Mr. Henning about to open his mouth he could no longer take the pressure. Freddie stood up, spun on his heel and walked over to sit with Carly.

"So."

"So."

With Mr. Henning off their back, they sat in silence for five minutes.

Freddie cracked again.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't care. Just pick something, tell me what to do and I'll give it to your mom when I'm done."

"It's meant to be done together, not seperately. We need to do a presentation as well."

"Like I said, just tell me what to do, I'll do it and then I'll turn up and do the presentation. I've got a lot of time to practice now I don't need to reherse for iCarly." Freddie detected the hint of anger in her tone when she mentioned the end of the web-show.

"That's not fair Carly. We all decided not to keep doing it. I never wanted the show to stop. I never made you stop doing the show."

Carly rolled her eyes and looked off to the side. Right at Gibby and Sam, who were playing footsie under the table. It made her want to puke blood.

But the sight of Gibby and Sam laughing and joking with each other hit home when as she looked back at Freddie and saw Freddie looking the way she was feeling. His eyes were downcast, there was no smile on his face. There was no happiness there.

Carly decided to just go for broke, before another 6 months passed before she knew it. She didn't want to let Freddie go off to some random college still angry and hurt and with their decade long friendship dead and buried for the rest of their lives.

"Do you hate me?" Carly asked. The question was forthright, earnest and it took Freddie aback.

"Of course not." He replied, eyebrows meshing together in a quizzical look.

"Why haven't you come to see me since the web-show ended?" Carly's passive-agressive anger vanished, the effort in being mad for something she was just as much a part of had worn her down. Her mouth curved downwards, her eyes downcast, it tore at Freddie's heartstrings.

The answer demanded more than remaining minutes their class included.

"Carly.. I.. I don't know. If you want to talk we can, but not here."

"Please Freddie.. I'm just so tired of it all. I don't like this feeling."

"Join the club," Freddie replied with a touch of bitterness in his voice.

He sighed, then they stared blankly at the project page in front of them until the bell rang.

* * *

Carly had shooed away Spencer. Sam knew better than to be involved, and she was off with Gibby working on their project anyway. A handful of bowls and plates were scatted on the table in front of the kitchen table. They were filled with fruit cubes, chips and dip, pretzels and assorted candy. Even the chewy red candy frogs that Carly knew he loved that he had to hide from his mom because she'd throw them out if she found them.

Everything sat there. Untouched.

"So."

"So."

Freddie leaned in to the table, "I'm tired too Carly."

"You are? Aren't you having fun with all your new friends and all the girls?"

"Duke? Yeah.. not really. I sometimes used to wonder if I was weird, hanging out with two girls, and only Gibby and Spencer as guy friends. Duke is a chilled bro but he's about as deep as a bowl of gravy and only slightly less thick." Carly laughed, what little time she spent with the wrestler had shown her he was a perfectly normal, nice guy, but she had to agree with Freddie about his intelligence.

"But what about all the girls hanging off your arm?"

"Those second rank cheerleaders? None of them held my attention for more than a week. I tried, but most of them were used to just having sex and being abandoned. None of them even cared if I bothered calling them or wanted to go out again. I'd show up at school the next day, get a high five from the guys and nothing changed. I kinda just went along with it. I mean.. they were cheerleaders. I was friends with the popular jocks.. that was what we were meant to do right?" Freddie noticed Carly's mouth curve slightly downward.

"Sorry.. probably too much information."

"No.. I'd rather get it out in the open. If you want to share it I mean. It's none of my business."

Freddie waved her away, "It's fine. I guess I wanted to know if I could be _that guy_.. a guy who just lets himself go. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Oh yay, "Casual Sex", like they talk about in the movies. It wasn't fun. Three was enough. There was nothing there. No substance. I didn't even feel guilty. How could I feel selfish when the girls didn't care either? Just maybe ten minutes of screwing and then out the door I went. It's not for me Carly, it really isn't. Last week the captain of the field hockey team came up to me at lunch and gave me her number on a napkin. I chucked it in the trash once she left."

Carly breathed a small sigh of relief. He hadn't changed much, he still seemed like the same Freddie she'd been friends with all those years. The idea he had been other girls didn't sit right with her. Neither did the fact that she wasn't part of his life to help him through it and that she knew the reason was because of her foolishness. She knew she had no right to feel any kind of hurt or pain from it.

"You were always a bit of a romantic weren't you." Carly said with a smile.

Freddie nodded, then glanced over the bowls. He smiled, picked up one frogs and stretched it in his mouth. As he finished chewing, he grinned at Carly, "I still am. Thank you. My favourite."

"How could I not?"

"Thank you. Now, how about you Carly?" He asked, even though he knew the answer.

"I've been taking time out to study. You know, math, science, lit, Japanese, home ec." Carly said with a hint of weariness.

"I'm sure you get hit on all the time at work." Freddie said, speaking rhetorically.

"Yeah, but T-Bo says not to encourage it."

"I can understand why."

The short conversation ended in silence once more, only the sound of Freddie chewing his candy filled the room.

Freddie swallowed. He took a breath in, mentally preparing himself.

"Carly.. I'm lonely. I miss having my best friend around. My life isn't the same without you." He said as his eyes started shimmering, tears threatening to run.

Carly stood up from the table, walked around and pulled him up from the chair. Freddie complied. Carly threw her arms around his waist, and he did the same around her back, "I'm lonely too Freddie. Sam and Gibby.. I don't hate them, I'm not jealous, but they are always together and I miss having you around."

They drank in each other's touch. Carly let the smell of Freddie's aftershave fill her nostrils, and he let the smell of her perfume waft over him, through his nose, but also on the tip of his tongue. They stood in each other's arms for what were only minutes but what seemed to them to be hours before they broke apart and Carly went back to her side of the table.

"We... can't go back to the way we were Carly."

"I know. Can we try going forward and making it better? I want to try that, how about you?"

"Yes. What you want me to do?"

Freddie sighed, "It's not about what I want. I don't want you to change just because I asked you to. That won't last. We both need to change for ourselves."

"You don't need to change Freddie.. none of this was your fault."

"Yes it was. Don't try to pin this all on you. I let myself get in the way of your relationships. I didn't clear up our relationship, I just let people assume whatever they wanted. I got angry internally because you didn't have the same feelings for me that I had for you. I didn't stand up for myself when I knew you were trying to take advantage of me because I was scared you might not want me as a friend, and I didn't tell Sam to back off or ask for you to support me because I knew you would choose Sam over me."

The self-analysis shocked Carly, it was a depth of feelings that she was expecting. It forced her to dig deep inside her own pysche to match how far Freddie had reached into his own personal problems. Her face scrunched up, eyes closed as she thought back on everything that had happened. Both recently and years long past. Freddie looked up from his candy picking and smiled.

'Cute.' He thought as she went through the process, her soft pink tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth.

He didn't find her sudden frown cute though. It worried him, the instant change from thinking to despair.

"Carly, are you okay?"

Her eyes flew open, "No! I'm mean and manipulative and tried to seduce you and took you for granted and treated you like dirt and took Sam's side all the time even when she was plain wrong and let you get hurt and went around chasing guys when you were waiting for me to tell you if I still had feelings for you and then used you and lied to you Freddie oh my god I'm horrible, I abandoned you because of that stupid Fred thing, and for what? The jerk didn't even care."

Freddie waited for Carly's self aimed rant to end before he spoke up, "I don't think that's quite fair.. you just didn't realise it. I don't believe you've ever set out to deliberately hurt me Carly."

"But I still did! I tore your heart into pieces and chucked them out like garbage and I _didn't even care_. You've been my friend so long, how could I do that?" Carly sniffled, tears rolled down her face and she buried her head in her hands.

Now it was Freddie's turn to stand up for Carly. He walked over, and pulled Carly up into a warm embrace, "I forgive you."

"You do?" Carly asked, her tears dropping down to stain his shirt.

"Of course.. I love you, even if it's not the same type of love I've been used to for the last few years. I've always loved you as my best friend, and I'm know you did your best to love me that way too. But that doesn't mean I will forget what happened."

Carly looked up at Freddie, "I understand.. I promise you Freddie, I'm going to be a better friend.. a better person. And I did.. I do, love you too."

"Not just for me Carly." He said, using his thumb to dry her the tears on her cheeks.

"I know. For me, and us. Together. Sam and Gibby spend so much time together, I never used to really believe that whole 'my best friend is my boyfriend' thing until now. Now I know what happens to their other friends when it does." Carly emphasised her statement by pulling on Freddie tighter around his waist. Freddie reciprocated with one hand around her back, and the other lightly stroking her hair.

"It'll be okay. If being best friends again is in the stars then it'll happen." Freddie kissed the top of her head, and they detached from each other's embrace.

"I know you probably think this is giving you the second prize or wanting to make up for things, but with Sam.. she doesn't need me like she used to."

"How about we talk more about it while we work on the project. It will look bad if we turn up at school with nothing."

Carly laughed, "You're right, let's take all this stuff up to my room, we can work there."

After piling up all the plates and bowls, they walked up to the elevator. Carly pushed the button and they waited for it to arrive. The doors sprung open, "Ladies first." Carly entered, pushed the button for her floor. Freddie came in after her, they stood together, side by side as the doors closed in front of them.

At 10:45pm, Sam returned to the apartment, made her way up the stairs to sleep beside Carly in her comfy bed. Instead she found Freddie and Carly fast asleep on Carly's head resting on Freddie's shoulder. Strewn around them on the bed lay a dozen books, loose paper and all sorts of pens, pencils and other assorted equipment.

Sam rolled her eyes, took a picture with her pearphone she could use to embarrass them later, then snatched up all the left over candy and food. Sam snuck out of the room, and ate them all in one half hour episode of Girly Cow.

* * *

"Freddie, Carly. A+ Good work. I especially liked the costumes. Just don't bring any live animals in next time."

* * *

**AN: **So there you have chapter 4. My expectation is two more chapters.


End file.
